This novel is humorous and ironic, and introduced the term
"catch-22", which is still in common usage. First published in
1961, it follows the protagonist Captain John Yossarian, a U.S.
Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier during World War II, along with
other characters who interact with him.
It emphasises the idea that there is always "a catch" to every
proposal. For example (an excerpt from the book):
There was only one catch and that was
Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the
face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a
rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to
do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and
would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more
missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly
them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he
didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very
deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and
let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he [Yossarian]
observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
My favorite part of the novel was Orr and his crab apples...
(another excerpt):
Orr:"When I was a kid, I used to
walk around all day with crab apples in my cheeks. One in each
cheek."
Yossarian: "Why?"
Orr (tittering triumphantly): "Because they’re better
than horse chestnuts. When I couldn’t get crab apples, I used horse
chestnuts. Horse chestnuts are about the same size as crab apples
and actually have a better shape, although the shape doesn’t matter
a bit."
Yossarian: "Why did you walk around with crab apples in
your cheeks? That’s what I asked."
Orr: Because they’ve got a better shape than horse
chestnuts. I just told you that.
Yossarian:"Why, you evil-eyed, mechanically-aptituded,
disaffiliated son of a ****, did you walk around with
anything in your cheeks?"
Orr:"I didn’t walk around with anything in my
cheeks. I walked around with crab apples in my cheeks. . .
."
Orr giggled. Yossarian made up his mind to keep his mouth shut and
did. Orr waited. Yossarian waited longer.
"One in each cheek," Orr said.
"Why?"
Orr pounced. "Why what?"
Yossarian shook his head, smiling, and refused to say.
"It's a funny thing about this valve," Orr mused
aloud.
"What is?" Yossarian asked.
"Because I wanted--"
Yossarian knew. "----Why did you want--"
"--apple cheeks."
"--apple cheeks?" Yossarian demanded.
"I wanted apple cheeks," Orr repeated. "Even when
I was a kid I wanted apple cheeks someday, and I decided to work at
it until I got them and by God, I did work at it until I got them,
and that's how I did it, with crab apples in my cheeks all day
long." He giggled again.
"One in each cheek."
"Why did you want apple cheeks?"
"I didn't want apple cheeks," Orr said. "I wanted
big cheeks. I didn't care about the color so much, but I
wanted them big. I worked at it just like one of those crazy guys
you read about who go around squeezing rubber balls all day long
just to strengthen their hands. In fact, I was one of those
crazy guys. I used to walk around all day with rubber balls in my
hands, too."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you walk around all day with rubber balls in your
hands?"
"Because rubber balls--" said Orr.
"--are better than crab apples?" Orr sniggered as he
shook his head. "I did it to protect my good reputation in
case anyone ever caught me walking around with crab apples in my
cheeks. With rubber balls in my hands I could deny there were crab
apples in my cheeks. Every time someone asked me why I was walking
around with crab apples in my cheeks, I'd just open up my hands and
show them that it was rubber balls I was walking around with, not
crab apples, and that they were in my hands, not my cheeks. It was
a good story. But I never knew if it got across or not, since it's
pretty tough to make people understand you when you're talking to
them with two crab apples in your cheeks."
Yossarian found it pretty tough to understand him then, and he
wondered once again if Orr wasn't talking to him with the tip of is
tongue in one of his apple cheeks.
Yossarian decided not to utter another word. It would be
futile...
Anyways, in case you're wondering: If everything's got a catch,
what's the catch to this cache? Well, It's not winter friendly, but
we went ahead and hid it in the winter anyways. Of course, we hid
it after a big snowfall and the temperatures are warming up, so you
can probably just follow our footprints to the cache. We thought we
had this well thought out, but DANG! I guess there's always a
catch...
We thought that this would be a good cache to launch our
BarFly TravelBug, who wants to party with people and collect
pictures doing so.
As with all of our caches, feel free to contact us with any
questions or for hints, and please accurately post DNF's.